Paul was left no other choice but to share the news

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A takeaway owner has revealed the extent of the impact the price of living crisis has had on his business.

Paul De'Brett from Southport has spent the majority of his adult life in hospitality and decided to take the plunge of owning his own business in August 2020. The dad-of-two opened Frydays on Eastbourne Road to serve high standard takeaway food.

Despite opening during, and surviving, a pandemic, the 33-year-old has now had to make changes to accommodate for the sharp increase in prices of both products and utilities. Paul said, like all people in the UK, he is coming to terms with the jump in the cost of living. He has now announced that his business will now shut on Wednesdays and will have to introduce price increases.

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The business owner has even made an admission about the harsh reality of opening at the moment. He told the ECHO : "Everyone knows what's going on and it's just about communicating to people. If I communicate with people they have no problem with it.

"With the rising prices of energy and things like that I have no control over that and it is a struggle for us. It would be cheaper for me to close on a Wednesday than if I were to open.

"It would have cost me almost £500 to open on Wednesday so we've decided to close an extra day to try and control some of the costs.

"For example the oil, I pay £270 for oil to change the fryers twice a week. People aren't spending as much so you can't stay open every day of the week."

Paul initially took to Facebook to share the news that he would be opening five days a week going forward. He posted: "We have made a difficult decision, to close Wednesdays from immediate effect from tomorrow. With rising costs, and product prices on the up.

"It’s difficult times at the moment for everyone, we have increased prices slightly to cover costs. We are trying to stay reasonable as possible, we thank all our loyal customers for supporting us

"But we have said it before, all independent businesses need support through these rough times ahead. We will also be running a limited menu on Good Friday due to the busiest day of the year for speedy service and quality control."

One person was saddened to hear about the changes. He wrote: "That’s a shame but understandable, good luck."